Monday, 17 December 2012

The Charity Commission have apologised to Social
Investigations, following a complaint made about the free market think tank,
Reform.

The complaint, which centred around Reform's links to the Conservative party,
was met with the extraordinary response that ‘there is no evidence to support the allegations
that the Reform Research Trust has links with or promotes the aims and
objectives of any political party.’

I replied saying that ‘I must admit, I am rather baffled by this part of the
response because the links to the Conservative party are extensive and as far
as their powerbase goes, is almost total. I attach the full list of their
connections to the Conservative party.’

Friday, 14 December 2012

This is a roundup of all the research carried out by Social Investigations on the free market think tank, Reform. They are increasingly influential, listened to by the neo cons and promote the dismantling of public service into the hands of corporations that fund them and so many of our parlimentarians. This has been the most indepth look at the think tank thus far with some more to come in the future.

1. The Telegraph, the Think Tank and a Very Dodgy Business: Click "And the whole sequence of Telegraph articles and editorials on the importance of the Government not going soft on public service reform, including some strong pieces on health, is something I have been orchestrating and working with Reform to bring about.’

2. Reform - Setting the Agenda with Unknown Others - Click - Chatham House Rules are a useful tool for discussions that hide the attendees. Reform, regularly use it for meetings that should be in the public domain.

3. Reform - a voice for corporations (series) - Reform has many corporations who are partners. They pay Reforn, and in return get to be in the same room as our lawmakers, lobby, contribute papers policy ideas that aim to persuade MPs. Policies that will benefit big business. Aviva, BMI Healthcare, G4S, Bupa.

4. Reform: A Charity or a conduit for privatisation? Click - Reform were at the conferences with sponsored corporations in tow, providing access to decision-makers.

6. Privatising Probation: What Reform says – Government does - Click - If you want to know what future government policy is going to be, don’t bother asking your government because they won’t tell you until it’s too late. Instead, turn your eyes to a right-wing think tank masquerading as a charity.

7. Reform think tank and their links to the Conservative Party - Click- they are a charity yet they have a clear bias towards the Conservative party - here are all their links to the right.

8. Complaint Over Think Tank 'Charity' Sent to Charity Commission - Click - based on the evidence, Reform appear to be in breach of the Charity Commission rules, so Social Investigations sent in a complaint.

9. Charity Commission Refuses to Investigate Complaint Regarding Charity's Links to the Conservative Party - Click The Charity Commission said there was 'no evidence to support the allegations that the Reform Research Trust has links with or promotes the aims and objectives of any political party.' They clearly are not bothering to look, despite being sent the clear links. Another organisation with a set of rules that are not fit for purpose.

10. Charity Commission apologises for misleading statement on Reform's connections to the Conservative party - Click

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

‘Disappointingly since joining the alliance
Cumberlege Connections has not earned any income through the alliance.’
Baroness Cumberlege26th November 2012

Rules that fail to prevent our Peers from voting
when they have a financial interest are not fit for purpose. There were
many such culprits who helped pass the Health and Social bill into Act, however,
there was one Baroness in particular, who exploited this deficiency in
democracy more than most.

Monday, 3 December 2012

It's that time of the year again when the HealthInvestor magazine announces who they consider to be the most powerful individuals in the private healthcare market. The annual backslapping is less about care and more about power, influence and money. Is this the future of healthcare in this country? I hope not.

Seven of the top Fifteen or just under 50% of the top 15 have links to Lords or MPs - the full list is below.

There may be more but for now this is the list and their connections. Please let me know if you know of any other connections these companies have to our beloved public servants; lest we forget their role.

A list was produced earlier this year for the HealthInvestor awards for the most favoured companies of 2012 - you can see that here.

Saturday, 24 November 2012

This article appears in the Observer. See Archive in July and August for more details on this research.

The coalition has been accused of presiding over a sham "listening exercise" on NHS
reform last year, as a leaked document reveals how the private health
lobby worked with Downing Street behind the scenes to ensure that the
new legislation went ahead.

David Worskett, the industry's chief
lobbyist, cleared his group's public statements with officials and was
personally thanked by No 10 for arranging the publication of a letter
from clinicians in support of the reforms during the key "pause" period
last year, called to reflect on the proposed reforms.

A series of
phone calls between the lobbyist and Downing Street's health adviser was
followed by a welcome "addition" to a major speech by the prime
minister, according to a five-page document written for members of the
private healthcare lobby group. The government claimed at the time that
it would call a temporary halt to its efforts to introduce more
competition within the NHS through its controversial health and social
care bill. The prime minister told doctors and nurses: "We are taking
this time to pause, to listen, to reflect and to improve our NHS
modernisation plans. Let me be clear: this is a genuine chance to make a
difference."

Friday, 23 November 2012

Reform
are a free market think tank who promote privatisation of public services. They
have charitable status despite being heavily linked to the Conservative party,
which is denied by the Charity Commission who recently chose to refuse to
investigate the connections and denied they existed.

Social Investigations is producing a series of
articles which looks at the corporations who fund Reform through a corporate
partnership that exists because according to Reform:

'We are keen
to involve corporate organisations in our research because their expertise is
often left out of the Whitehall
policy discussion.’

Dictionary
definition of a charity: ‘An organisation set up to
provide help and raise money for those in need’.

Friday, 16 November 2012

The Charity Commission have refused to investigate further a complaint placed by Social Investigations into connections between the Charity Reform and the Conservative party, which brings into question their independence.

The refusal stated that: 'In 2007, the Commission considered a complaint about the charity from a Member of Parliament that contained information which is very similar to the information provided in your email.

We considered the evidence provided by the MP and undertook a thorough investigation. Our findings were that there is no evidence to support the allegations that the Reform Research Trust has links with or promotes the aims and objectives of any political party. We therefore decided not to take any action in regard to these matters.'

The idea that Reform does not have links with the Conservative party are absurd.

All of the co-founders have links to the Conservative party.

Reform is recognised as part of the Conservative party movement by multiple medium including the Conservativehome.

Two MPs to emerge from Reform both belong to the Conservative party

Two of the trustees have provided money to individuals in the Conservative party

Two of the trustees and a director have advised two Conservative MPs

The full list of links to the Conservative party are here, and highlight clearly the entire powerbase as being linked to the Conservative party. The free market think tank, which promotes, privatisation and the outsourcing of public services to the private sector, are partners with many corporations who gain from the outsourcing and which are linked to many of our Lords and MPs.

In fact, the only people who do not seem to recognise Reform as part of the Conservative party is the Charity Commission itself, whose reputation is damaged by allowing such organisations to remain as charities.

A further complaint will be sent to the Charity Commission about their decision and how they can possibly come to the conclusion that they can find 'no evidence' of links to the Conservative party.

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Every now and again I
do an article roundup to bring together key articles from a couple of months work.

The first roundup focused on the Lords research and the healthcare takeover of parliamentMore...

The second roundup was dedicated to lobbying following the discovery of a document from a healthcare lobbying group that told the tale of how
Sir Stephen Bubb played his part in changing the face of the NHS. In addition
it looked at the daily Telegraph’s role in helping promote the message of
‘competition’. More...

This roundup looks at
the political connections of two Think Tanks that silently go about producing policy that the government so
readily take onboard to leverage public resources into the private companies
that fund them. Reform, the BBC, Policy Exchange, Wonga are all in here, as is
David Cameron and how the government accepted the recommendations of the
‘Choice and Competition’ working group of the NHS Future Forum before they
received the final report. Democracy in this country is in a fragile state.

Please pass on this
blog to anyone you know.

1. ‘Just as I was signing off our Panel's
report on " Delivering real choice" I get sent a copy of the PM
speech announcing he is accepting many of our key recommendations (although we
haven't actually given him the report yet!) More…

2. Sir Stephen Bubb was a
key figure in ensuring private healthcare remained in the Health and Social
Care Act following the so-called ‘listening period.’ Read about how he bumped
in Lansley and got briefed before appearing on the Health and Social Care bill
Committee. More…

3. Policy Exchange Links
to the Conservative Party. They are a think tank with charity status, but
predominantly dream up ideas for privatising. They are meant to be politically
‘independent’, but are linked solely to the Conservative party. More here…

4. Reform areaccording to their website 'keen to involve corporate
organisations in our research because their expertise is often left out of the
Whitehall policy discussion.’ – See why this is a lie with reports on Aviva,
BMI
Healthcare, G4Sand see why this makes them a conduit
to privatisation. You can also see
which of their corporate partners are linked to Lords and MPs.More…

5. The BBC failed the
people of the UK for whom they are meant to inform. A new report analyses the
key stories they missed including the Lords and MPs research. How the BBC
betrayed the NHS. More…

6. A Complaint was sent
to the Charity Commission over the free market think tank Reform. The complaint
focused on their political independence and their linksto the Conservative party. The second part of the complaint looked at misleading statements made on their website. We await their response. More...

7. The government want to
privatise probations, and it is all linked into the Police Commissioner
elections, which will act as an opportunity to pressurise local leaders to
outsource other areas such as the fire brigade, the police, ambulance services,
of which Reform suggest Police Commissioners should be in charge. More…

8. It takes a certain kind of person to run a
company that takes advantage of people in desperate times, to squeeze money out
of them when they have nowhere else to go. The kind of person who would do such
a thing, should be admonished by society for preying on the needy however, this
government, who receives money from one of their main funders, sees him as a
person to go to for advice and to send senior advisers to lobby on the
company's behalf. More…

Thursday, 1 November 2012

Policy Exchange is a right wing free market
think tank who provide policy ideas for the Conservative party. They promote
privatisation and are funded in part by corporations, although which ones and
how much are largely unknown.

They are a charity, and claim political
independence, which is absurd. The charity status they have makes a mockery out
of both the meaning of the word and the rules of the Charity Commission, which
allows such organisations to become a charity in the first place.

The list below is of the think tank
trustees with some collected from other sources and some new up to date
research. The donations the trustees have given have only gone to the
Conservative party.

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

It takes a certain kind of person to run a
company that takes advantage of people in desperate times, to squeeze money out
of them when they have nowhere else to go. The kind of person who would do such
a thing should be admonished by society for preying on the needy. However, this
government sees him as a person to go to for advice and to send senior advisers
to lobby on the company's behalf.

Monday, 29 October 2012

Over the last month
Social Investigations has researched the free market think tank, Reform, which
to the discredit of the Charity Commission rules, is also a charity. The findings led to the conclusion that a complaint to the
Charity Commission was justified under both misleading the public and questioning their
political independence.

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Reform are important because they dream up policy for selling off our
public assets like the NHS and the police and the Conservative party make
policy based on their research. Their corporate partners are major global and UK
corporations and scooping the financial rewards from the privatisation dreamed
up by Reform.

Reform is seen by many
organisations on both sides of the political spectrum as being an arm of the
Conservative party, everyone recognises this except it would seem, the Charity Commission.

Reform state on their website: 'We are keen
to involve corporate organisations in our research because their expertise is
often left out of the Whitehall policy discussion.'

I am providing a selection of files on
three companies that are corporate partners to Reform in order to provide
evidence that Reform’s statement on their site regarding the above statement is
at best misleading and at worst deception.

In addition to the same point above, I am
providing a list of the corporate partners with their links to MPs and Lords
and a list of what area each company influences government policy.

I chose three simply because I didn’t want
to inundate your organisation with files on all the companies that make up
their corporate partners to make the point. The files represent those companies
only, although the same would apply to all the other corporate partners and I
would be happy to supply more if required.

Reform currently has 31 corporate partners; many of them represent some of the
most powerful companies in the UK.

These companies are not left our of
Whitehall policy. As the files will show, they are often involved at various
levels helping to develop policy.

Many of these companies are financially
linked to Lords and MPs from all parties, although largely the Conservatives
and in many cases they are in leading positions: Please see File titled Reform
MP company links.

In one particular case, the director Andrew
Haldenby specifically speaks up for and on behalf of G4S as it mentions in the
G4S file.

Reform receives money from donations and sponsorship. Companies often
sponsor an event so that they can lobby. The policy that these companies
influence ends up creating more wealth for the companies and is not for the
charitable aims of delivering economic prosperity to the people it claims to
do. Not once in their summary return do they mention promoting privatisation,
and yet through their corporate sponsorship, and work, this is exactly what
they are doing.

2. Political
independence.

The next complaint
looks at their political independence.- See links to Conservative party here.

‘The guiding principal
of charity law is that charities should be, and be seen to be, independent from
party politics.’

Based on the statement
above, Reform is not within charity law as their powerbase is almost totally
towards the Conservative party.

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Reform calls itself independent. However
the research below brings this claim into question in what appears to be the breaking
of the Charity Commission rules for all charities to remain politically
independent. Download as PDF

The 'charity’s' claim to independence is
based on having one Liberal Democrat (Jeremy Browne) and two Labour members
(Lord Warner and MP Frank Field) and a Conservative MP, (Julian Smith) on their
advisory team. These however do not represent the overall dominance of the
organisation towards the Conservative party, which can be seen by the
powerbase, of the founders and trustees. The bullet points below represent a list of
these connections.

All of the co-founders have links to the Conservative party.

Reform is recognised as part of the Conservative party movement
by multiple medium including the Conservativehome.

Two MPs to emerge from Reform both belong to the Conservative
party

Two of the trustees have provided money to individuals in the
Conservative party

Monday, 22 October 2012

If you want to know what
future government policy is going to be, don’t bother asking your government
because they won’t tell you until it’s too late. Instead, turn your eyes to a
right-wing think tank masquerading as a charity.

In February 2011, Reform,
a free market think tank, produced a brochure
based on a meeting held at global law firm, Clifford Chance, titled: ‘21st
century justice’. The meeting in large part discussed the probation and prison
service and the need for change.

Thursday, 18 October 2012

I sent an FOI request to the NHS Commissioning Board in relation to the vacancy they announced for a NHS Brand manager as part of a team. The vacancy was originally highlighted by Roy Lilley. I almost feel like apologising for asking you to read it, but please do. The response below is utterly bewildering and my comments are at the bottom.

Friday, 5 October 2012

G4S are the most powerful security company in the world, so why do a 'charity' need to offer them further support?

Bringing the activities of the think tank Reform to the public eye, Social
Investigations is producing a series of articles which looks at the
corporations they partner, and their claim that they are excluded from Whitehall policy. So far, the corporations covered have been Aviva and BMI Healthcare.

Reform's claim is this:
'We are keen to involve corporate organisations in our research because their
expertise is often left out of the Whitehall policy discussion.’ – Reform website
– corporate partners page

Thursday, 4 October 2012

As part of a series of investigations
looking into the free market think tank Reform, the financial links between our
so-called public servants, corporations and Reform has brought into question
whether Reform should be stripped of their ‘charity’ status.

Now Social Investigations has revealed the
list of companies that give money to Reform in either donations or sponsorship
who also are employing or have financial connections to our so-called public
servants in key sectors of our society.

Friday, 28 September 2012

‘The BBC has
failed in its responsibilities to inform the British public about one
of the most important pieces of legislation of the 21st century.’

This statement
comes from a new report written and researched by OurKingdom, a democracy news website
project of Open Democracy. The 8,000-word document, highlights a catalogue of
failings by the corporation in its coverage of the Health and Social Care Act
that include:

Thursday, 20 September 2012

Conference season is upon us, and this year as with every other, the three main
parties of the UK political system will each be taking to the stage in an
attempt to define their centrist differences. ‘Tis the season to be lobbying,
and one organisation in particular will be on the fringes, acting as the go
between for their corporate partners and the MPs they hope to persuade; their
name is Reform.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Just when you though the so-called ‘listening exercise could not be more of a
sham, a new quote
from Sir Stephen Bubb has come to light that reveals he was briefed by Lansley
and his Special Advisor, Bill Morgan, before an appearance before the Public
Bill Committee meeting on the Health and Social care bill.

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

As part of an ongoing analysis of Reform as a ‘charity’, this time the focus is
on BMI healthcare.

Articles in relation to Reform already exist here on the meetings with senior officials
using Chatham House rules which are an affront to transparency. Another article
looked at their role in supporting the aims of Aviva,
one of their corporate partners. This time the focus is turned to BMI
Healthcare.

As the TUC held their conference, Reform
produced a ‘briefing’,
which made a series of suggestions on how to weaken the public sector and their
workforce conditions. In response to this, the GMB union wrote an article
that claimed Reform as being a ‘fake charity’, calling on the Charity
Commission to recheck their criteria that allows organisations like the think
thank Reform to exist as a charity.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Just in case you
were left with any doubts that the so-called ‘listening period’ was a genuine
attempt to er…listen, then another dose of evidence has come to light, that
will surely cure such crazy thoughts.

The evidence
comes in the form of a post written on the blog by the head of the ‘Choice and
Competition’ working group of the NHS Future Forum, Sir Stephen Bubb.

These last two
months have seen a slight change in direction from specific MPs to the process
of manipulation during the Health bill ‘pause’. In addition the research into
the parliamentarian links was wrapped up revealing 60 MPs with financial links
to companies involved in private healthcare, bringing the total of all
parliamentarians with these links to 200.

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Reform
is a right-wing think tank that claims to be ‘independent’. Like many think
tanks they have charity status, although when you look at their work, it is
hard to see where the charitable part exists. They are setting the agenda for our public services in meetings that only they know who was in attendance.

Reform
has and continues to be influential in the attacks on the NHS. A document
written by the health lobby group the NHS Partners Network revealed Reform’s
involvement in setting up meetings with key players of the NHS Future Forum and
Monitor during the ‘health bill ‘pause’.

Thursday, 9 August 2012

If we are to believe the content of the Daily
Telegraph’s recent editorial,
titled ‘Hope for the NHS’*, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief, pack up
your placards, the NHS it would appear, is saved. At least that’s the message
being propagated in an extraordinary campaign being run by a so-called ‘quality
paper’ on behalf of Circle Health.